Quaristice/ Versions/ Quadrange EP

I initially didnt take to Quaristice as an album.

Quadrange absolutely blew me away.

It was only recently that I acquired Versions, which I believe to be absolutely stunning.

Listening again to Quaristice now, it works more as an album after listening to Quadrange and Versions as many times as I have. The shorter track lengths give the album a proper [cliche] journey [/cliche] feel.

On a side note; I was stuck in traffic last week listening to Quadrange.

Perlence Subrange 6-36 started playing and I thought yeah why not let it play out whilst I sat there on the motorway....

...time passed....

...I probably moved about 100m (there had been an accident up ahead somewhere)

...I completely zoned out to the track. Each cycle that passed left me longing for the next phase of the track to start.

...But then it ended. And it left me feeling mournful, like I wanted it to carry on for longer!

...Thankfully the traffic jam cleared and I was on my way soon after. But it was a bizarre experience.

I've been coming back to Quaristice a bunch lately and quite frankly, I can not help but obsess to myself about how fucking awesome these songs are. But also, I love how tangentially a good deal of these songs branch out, covering so much different sonic area within their short lengths. I probably like this album as much or very close to as much as I love Draft 7.30, maybe even more, depending on my mood.

the quaristice trilogy sounds like an underwater factory, churning out scraps of music. i mean that as a compliment, as these tracks all have very diverse forms, but retain a very "dank" tone. dark, but in a mysterious, undiscovered world kind of way. not creepy and uninviting. "Notwo" is beautiful! "IO" is pretty odd, though. like a fucked up human/machine hybrid that went horribly wrong

Blyz Castl is pretty slammin', might i add

and long with that. i love the chaotic nature of "Fol3" and "Plyphon". i have so many good things to say about Quraistice, it's a really high ranking ae release for me. i would've thought ae fans were thrilled by it during it's release period. weird to know how much negative reactions it brought on

IO reminds me of something that is considered to be a symptom of psychosis or a similar disorder, namely finding individualized "secret" messages in songs, movies, TV shows, etc.

  On 12/6/2010 at 2:47 AM, Calx Sherbet said:

the quaristice trilogy sounds like an underwater factory, churning out scraps of music. i mean that as a compliment, as these tracks all have very diverse forms, but retain a very "dank" tone. dark, but in a mysterious, undiscovered world kind of way. not creepy and uninviting. "Notwo" is beautiful! "IO" is pretty odd, though. like a fucked up human/machine hybrid that went horribly wrong

 

Blyz Castl is pretty slammin', might i add

I always got the same kind of feeling from underwater levels in video games (mostly Super Mario 64.) Quite a strange feeling.

The Quaristice album is what I consider a Kraken's soundtrack. These three tracks work best together in a consecutive order, and could picture an introduction to Kraken:

Perlence/Perlence Range3. The aquatic mood really comes into life here. The play of randomized 'beat' samples, the damped clap/snare (can't decide) and the aqua synth just make up an awesome rhythm. It's also visually very powerful. I'd put this for a Kraken's soundtrack. A deep underwater monster with big round scornful eyes, grasping tentacles and enormous apetite. Brilliant.

Right after Perlence Range3 is IO, and it gives me the most of braindance. The first time I heard it was on their live show and it just made me go nuts. Many of my fellows think this track is the sickest and most hard to listen-to - it might be a little overdose but the beats, the 'percussion' details and the whole arrangement is brilliant. That 'theme' synth-line, fragmented percussion and its re-occuring counter-point (when it becomes slightly droney) just overwhelmes my perception. I can fully embrace the viciousness it tries to picture. IO(mons) is a little too long though.

PlyPhon is the third. This could conclude the Kraken's theme. I have no comments other than say "listen". It is manic, obsessive and utterly vicious. Like depicting a mind you cannot pierce into, irrational and mind-boggling.

The whole idea about Quaristice being an underwater world is my favourite. Instantly images and stories began to appear in my cortex. Something like The Sphere, 10.000 miles under sea, even Moby Dick. Epic stuff. So my 'story' about the alien underwater world continues with these tracks:

SonDEremawe is an interesting piece. Struggling with rising nitrogen in the diver's blood, running out of oxygen or struggling with dangerous syphons of deep underwater rocks and caves, all of which result of the diver's death in front of our eyes.

Other tracks are not so much 'Kraken'. But still they could fit into the context somehow (which doesn't make them bad tracks at all - on the contrary):

Altibzz, Theswere, Chenc9, Paralel Suns, Notwo, WNSN, Outh9x, Tankraken/Tankakern, 90101-5l-l

I think Quaristice should be filmed. Something so visually appealing and strongly narrative in its context demands for a visual interpretation. Nothing like abstract shapes and multi-dimensional forms of Ae's previous work.

There are bad (read: uninteresting) tracks also: Steels, bncCastl, Fol3, Rale

  On 12/13/2010 at 10:13 PM, Godwin Austen said:

 

There are bad (read: uninteresting) tracks also: bncCastl, Rale

ur rong

  On 12/13/2010 at 10:13 PM, Godwin Austen said:

 

I think Quaristice should be filmed. Something so visually appealing and strongly narrative in its context demands for a visual interpretation. Nothing like abstract shapes and multi-dimensional forms of Ae's previous work.

 

ur right

This is one of the most powerful albums I own in terms of visual strength. Even if I don't like all the tracks (the one you listed as uninteresting for the most), there are some very good material. The all album have a similar feeling, something I discovered lately by listening the Versions album, especially the Perlences tracks, something very aquatic and a bit terrifying. Notwo is like discovering an ancient world in the deep oceans, but a hostile world.

And yes this is hard to listen to.

  On 12/15/2010 at 7:13 PM, StocKo said:

  On 12/13/2010 at 10:13 PM, Godwin Austen said:

 

I think Quaristice should be filmed. Something so visually appealing and strongly narrative in its context demands for a visual interpretation. Nothing like abstract shapes and multi-dimensional forms of Ae's previous work.

 

 

 

ur right

 

This is one of the most powerful albums I own in terms of visual strength. Even if I don't like all the tracks (the one you listed as uninteresting for the most), there are some very good material. The all album have a similar feeling, something I discovered lately by listening the Versions album, especially the Perlences tracks, something very aquatic and a bit terrifying. Notwo is like discovering an ancient world in the deep oceans, but a hostile world.

 

And yes this is hard to listen to.

Its hard to get into but once you are done its pure gold.

quaristice is growing on me still.

knowing that, i have to say it's better than understabs and move sometimes because i warmed up to those right quick

i really should get around to making that compilation. then maybe inhaling a whole lot of greens - i don't think i've given this album the green test yet. it helped me understand move of ten a lot more.

it is really hard to get used to an autechre album made up of short tracks though. i was listening to draft yesterday and had a realisation that one of the things i love about autechre is the length of some of their tracks. now i know quadrange and versions addressed this but could you imagine a 7-8 minute version of steels (for example), that evolved into something more complex? it would be amazing.

also i fucking love fol3 and fol4. i'd love to hear an autechre noise album, and not minimal stuff like the hafler trio collaborations. just some ridiculous ae-noise. when they've dabbled in noise textures before (eg. fol3/4, rettic ac, the noise bursts in second bad vilbel), it's been so beautiful!

  On 12/16/2010 at 2:40 AM, modey said:

i really should get around to making that compilation. then maybe inhaling a whole lot of greens - i don't think i've given this album the green test yet. it helped me understand move of ten a lot more.

 

 

it is really hard to get used to an autechre album made up of short tracks though. i was listening to draft yesterday and had a realisation that one of the things i love about autechre is the length of some of their tracks. now i know quadrange and versions addressed this but could you imagine a 7-8 minute version of steels (for example), that evolved into something more complex? it would be amazing.

 

also i fucking love fol3 and fol4. i'd love to hear an autechre noise album, and not minimal stuff like the hafler trio collaborations. just some ridiculous ae-noise. when they've dabbled in noise textures before (eg. fol3/4, rettic ac, the noise bursts in second bad vilbel), it's been so beautiful!

yes, yes and yes.

simmm is pretty sick in the way it progresses, but that's an exception on quaristits. i'm sure it's intentional to have a more fragmented feel.

but the (later era) ae tracks that REALLY grab me are the ones that have, subtle (sometimes not so subtle), interesting changes in mood/feel. think pro radical, sulblimimlit, blunder COAB

I am knee deep in this fucker for the past few days. The album proper is seriously perfect but the Quadrange stuff is really the meat on the bone. Just absolutely perfect, driving beats. It’s just relentless.

true

I love it as well. The end of Nofour with its dying sound perfectly ties the album. 

This was my least favourite album(s) but it's been growing on me a lot. It took a really long time to come around to it. Individually, the tracks on the Quadrange and Versions are better but, on a whole, Quaristice works really well when played from beginning to end.

  On 12/5/2018 at 10:30 PM, Entorwellian said:

 Quadrange and Versions are better but, on a whole, Quaristice works really well when played from beginning to end.

 agree! i have the jp version cd and i even prefer the normal version without the bonus track, which i great, but sometimes i feel it messes up the flow

Reporting in to declare that SonDEre-ix from Q-verzh is DEreciously r-ixch, son. Never gave it enough attention until this day. Deserves at least 7 times looped.

Subrange 6-36 was a glimpse into the future

  On 12/11/2018 at 3:19 AM, eczem said:

Reporting in to declare that SonDEre-ix from Q-verzh is DEreciously r-ixch, son. Never gave it enough attention until this day. Deserves at least 7 times looped.

yes

&

  On 12/11/2018 at 11:41 AM, fletcher said:

Subrange 6-36 was a glimpse into the future

Yes

I really wish there were a 25 minute verion of nofour

  On 12/11/2018 at 1:08 PM, oscillik said:

I really wish there were a 25 minute verion of nofour

there probably is one. if they dig through the archives to hunt down even more extended versions of Quar-era shit is another story of course

  On 12/11/2018 at 1:08 PM, oscillik said:

I really wish there were a 25 minute verion of nofour

Still got these tucked away:

Petition futureimage to make nofourfourfourfourno for ya

wat